


Little Reminders

by Eyrdamun



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Multi, compulsory heterosexuality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 04:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15380931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eyrdamun/pseuds/Eyrdamun
Summary: It feels like whenever Ren and Makoto try to take the next step in their relationship, the world conspires against them.





	Little Reminders

It's one of those days where her sister works late. One of the rare ones after the switch in career paths, one of the rarer still that coincided with Ren visiting Tokyo. Makoto won’t let it go to waste. It's only natural. It makes sense. They have been talking about it for a while, attempted a handful only for things to always come up. 

After a steadying breath, she dials Ren's number and brings her cellphone to her ear.

On the phone, he gives a small hopeful pose. It lasts a breath and he says, he will say he can't, he alrea- "Yeah,  sure." 

An exclamation of surprise leaves her mouth. It’s a mixture between “what”, “huh” and “come again” all jumbled up into gibberish. She can hear wind chimes from across the line and it’s Ren’s laughter. He is rude like that.

“Keep laughing like that and you’ll be uninvited.”

They hung up not long after, Makoto tells him goodbye a bit too enthusiastically. She reasons the excitement is at fault for her nausea and giddiness- she paces around, sits and then stands up to check if everything is in place and clean, that everything looks just right.

That she looks right.

It's what Ren deserves- she chooses a shirt with tighter sleeves, briefly considers trying on the lipstick Ann and Haru got her before deciding against it. He doesn't like obvious makeup on her. Or rather doesn't seem to care. He says her haircut and colour do a great job at framing her face beautifully alongside her red eyes.

If it weren't for her gut feeling, Makoto would think that Ren just says that to appease her. 

But he’s the brutally honest type about things that don’t pertain to his own thoughts. The two of them are just private like that.

Ren arrives an hour later.

A jittery thrill eats at her stomach from the close proximity. They are lying on their side, on her bed, only a breath away. Makoto can count each individual long eyelash that frame Ren's light coloured eyes and can study how they almost brush against his cheek as he blinks slowly at her. Relaxing in his presence is always an inevitability- the aroma of coffee permeates out of his mouth and overtakes her senses. 

A hand on the back of her own plays with hers gently, bringing Makoto back into the moment. It squeezes gently, nails without a spec of dirt and earth under them for once. His long and slim fingers trace meaningless patterns on the back of her hand.

"So..." he starts. There's a nervous tremble in his voice that mirrors the anxiety in her heart.

"So...?" she echoes his words. 

He flushes, ears turning red before the colour dusts his cheeks almost imperceptibly. it's cute how he makes a face before he turns and buries it in her pillow with a motion that leaves the curls of his fluffy hair bouncing for a second. Makoto chuckles- it's like watching Haru get flustered when one of the vegetables she and Ren had been caring for comes out too bitter. 

He positions his head just right so that only one eye peeks at her as his hand leaves her to burrow itself between the mattress and the pillow. Despite the playfully childish position, he looks untouchable with his head cradled between his arms and the pillow. Makoto likes him that.

So she does what she can without using physical contact- quirk the corner of her lips upwards while one lone thin eyebrow of hers is raised. Something in Ren's eye flickers, clouds and hardens, so Makoto crosses her arms in good measure. The fabric stretches taut across her biceps and Ren's eye flicker again.

Only this time it's a warning, a gaze from her muscle to her face and he kisses her. 

His lips are just like she remembers them, bitter from the coffee he drinks and as soft as the petals of the flowers he cares for. She hopes her own aren't too chapped, that they are feminine enough even if he never complained once about- Makoto knows that train of thought is quicksand she'll drown in and cuts it off by tangling her fingers in his curls and pulling closer. Ren lets himself be carried, lets his body be reeled in until his chest presses against hers. Ren breathes sharply and his nails dig into her biceps. 

He curls in on himself, suddenly shy until her breasts are a light pressure against his chest and Makoto breathes easy. Ren is always so accommodating. Even if they had spoken about this, planned for this multiple times already, he still knows to ease her into it. He used to be their leader after all and knows best when they are up against something, an uncomfortable situation that they can’t quite handle. 

"W-wait," Ren stuttering is uncharacteristic and Makoto is grateful for a moment to compose herself. "Isn't Sae going to be home soon?" 

Makoto tenses. She wriggles away and he puts no fight as he retreats his hand. Distance growing slowly inch by inch, the gap between their bodies becomes proper. "She said she'll be home by seven. " 

Ren nods and closes his eyes lazily. She follows the lazy descent of his eyelashes as he hums. "Today is no good either, is it?" 

Makoto and Ren both have a good sense of the passage of time, cultivated by necessity in a world of subconsciousness that would drain them dry if they misjudged their limits just slightly.

"Definitely seems that way." 

That's fine, there's always another day. 

"Hey, did you hear about Ryuji and Futaba's prank-" Until Ren has to leave, they can chat. They both know it can't be much later than 3pm. 

 

* * *

 

In a dimly lit bar that welcomes minors, the same bar where Makoto will later first see Ren in women’s clothing and heels that spark an attraction to him like she never felt before, she asks him to help her study on love.

She examines the liquors lining the wall behind the counter as she confesses to the one guy to ever make her comfortable enough to share her dreams with. 

Makoto thinks that Ren looks in the same direction while he accepts her offer. 

 

* * *

 

When his face scrunches up in frustration, Makoto thinks of Haru when the bugs infest her crops. She feels fondness and guilt well up inside of her. But it's something she doesn't know how to deal with, so she bites her tongue and files it for later analysis.  
  
When she blinks, spring projects behind her eyelids. When her eyes open, a lone lotus stands in front of her- wet noise escaping his throat before his defenses flare back up.

"I'm sorry," he speaks in a dulcet tone that compliments the blossoms she sees in the dark, on the back of her mind. She should apologize, she thinks without understanding her thoughts at all. 

"We should stop," she says instead. “We are much better off as friends.”

Ren doesn't look at her. He glances at her hair, her eyes, the firm set of her jaw and her biceps. Ren doesn't look at her.

Suddenly, it clicks into place and she realizes he hadn’t for a while. That maybe, she hadn’t for a while too.

"In the end neither of us knew anything about love, huh..." 

“I’ve never been the best study partner,” Ren jokes lightly. 

She’ll humour him. “Yes, I’ve witnessed the so called study sessions.” 

It just ended up sounding bitter.

"Well, any experience is better than none at all,” Ren smiles small. It’s as if he’s heard something else that she didn’t say at all. “You still have tomorrow and the day after and all that, y'know. For that right partner and all the studying, I mean." 

Her skin crawls, like she took advantage of- Ren makes a prodding noise as if he read her thoughts. Only when Makoto looks at him, she realizes the startled sound was for the birds mid-flight silhouetted black by the sun.

"You do too," she hopes that what she’s piecing together is wrong. 

"Yeah." Distracted, not hesitant. Or maybe a mix of both. "Yeah, maybe. I do-- I will." 

Makoto tastes the sourness behind those words on her tongue. She makes a face as things fall into place.

**Author's Note:**

> Drabble, feel free to point out any errors you see.


End file.
